There's a good reason King Lear still rocks the stage four centuries after Shakespeare put quill to parchment — and Fox's new smash hit Empire has royally tapped into the same mother lode of raw, timeless drama as the Bard with its tale of a hip-hop mogul choosing an heir before his descent into madness and death. "Empire is my life," says the show's co-creator and executive producer, Lee Daniels, who often lends biographical elements to his storylines. "And it's mixed with happiness and sadness. As with Precious, as with The Butler and my other films, there's a fine balance. Are we laughing at this, or are we crying at this? It's life with a little bit of camp, so we can laugh."
Oscar nominee Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow, Iron Man) stars as Lucious Lyon, a former thug and now an iron-fisted hip-hop artist and boss of Empire Entertainment, whose world is upended by the diagnosis of a debilitating disease that will leave him incapacitated within a few years — forcing him to choose which of his three sons should take over for him, even as music-industry vultures start circling his family.
His options? Youngest son Hakeem (played Bryshere Y. Gray) is a rising hip-hop star who puts fame ahead of hard work. Middle son Jamal (Jussie Smollett) is talented and shy, but his personal life is a huge embarrassment to Lucious. Oldest son Andre (Trai Byers) is educated and has business smarts, but suffers from bipolar disorder.
The breakout star of the show — and the on-screen firecracker — is Oscar and Emmy-nominee Taraji P. Henson (No Good Deed, Person of Interest) who portrays Cookie, Lucious' ex-wife and the mother of his three sons, who is fresh out of prison after "taking the fall" for drug trafficking — the proceeds of which funded Lucious' early career.
Now she’s back with a vengeance, and killer attitude, determined to bring the Lyon family closer together and seize her rightful share of Empire Entertainment — all the while looking chic in designer threads.
Cookie is driven by love, not a lust for power, says Henson, who says she channels Bette Davis with a hit of Diahann Carroll (who played jet-setter Dominique Deveraux on Dynasty) into her sassy performance.
“Love. Absolutely love,” says Henson. “Everything she does is for her boys, is for her family. She went away for 17 years for her family. She did not snitch. She could have, but she didn’t. So it’s always coming from a place of love and then everything after that.”
Empire is the latest in a long line of family-focused American soap operas, from Peyton Place (1964-1969) through to the golden age of Dallas (1978-1991) and Dynasty (1981-1989).
"Empire did something that nobody has ever done before," says executive producer Ilene Chaiken. "[We] found a world to set it in that makes it real and true. It has an authenticity. It has a grit. It has a place in the social conversation that those shows never had — and it's because it's true to these characters."
Famous faces dot the Empire turf — it crackles with recurring notables and guest-star oomph. Watch for: Naomi Campbell as a fashion designer; Jennifer Hudson as a music therapist and gospel singer; Courtney Love as a drug-addicted rock star; and Judd Nelson as a business rival.
Appearing in cameos as themselves are: Cuba Gooding Jr., Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, Juicy J and Patty LaBelle, plus many more.
The music is a star alongside the crazy drama in Empire. Gifted actor Smollett is also a goosebump-inducing singer — it's hardly surprising that the Empire soundtrack, with music by prolific producer Timbaland, rocketed to No 1 on the Billboard charts in March.
Its Nielsen numbers have rocked even harder — 14 million viewers tuned in to its US debut in January. Empire went on to do the virtually impossible in modern TV land — it defied gravity to pile on bigger numbers week after week, up to a stunning 23 million viewers for its first-season finale in March.
In the history of Nielsen people meters, the devices that have monitored America’s viewing habits since 1991, there’s no ratings achievement even remotely comparable.
• Empire premières on OSN First HD with a three-day marathon broadcast of the entire first season starting at 11pm on Thursday.